Full title: Ubisoft says you “cannot complain” it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren’t “deceived” by the lack of an offline version “to access a decade-old, discontinued video game”...
I think Ubisoft is clearly in the wrong, but you’re not making a good case. You’re conflating very different meanings of the word “own”.
In terms of legal ownership, only the copyright holder owns the intellectual property, including the right to distribute and license it. When a consumer “buys” a piece of media, they’re really just buying a perpetual license for their personal use of it. With physical media, the license is typically tied to whatever physical object (disc, book, ROM, etc.) is used to deliver the content, and you can transfer your license by transferring the physical media, but the license is still the important part that separates legal use from piracy.
When you pirate something, you own the means to access it without the legal right to do so. So, in the case at hand, players still “own” the game in the same sense they would if they had pirated it. Ubisoft hasn’t revoked anyone’s physical access to the bits that comprise the game; what they’ve done is made that kind of access useless because the game relies on a service that Ubisoft used to operate.
The real issue here is that Ubisoft didn’t make it clear what they were selling, and they may even have deliberately misrepresented it. Consumers were either not aware that playing the game required Ubisoft to operate servers for it, or they were misled regarding how long Ubisoft would operate the servers.
Ultimately I think what consumers are looking for is less like ownership and more like a warranty, i.e. a promise that what they buy will continue to work for some period of time after they’ve bought it, and an obligation from the manufacturer to provide whatever services are necessary to keep that promise. Game publishers generally don’t offer any kind of warranty, and consumers don’t demand warranties, but consumers also tend to expect punishers to act as if their products come with a warranty. Publishers, of course, don’t want to draw attention to their lack of warranty, and will sometimes actively exploit that false perception that their products come with a perpetual warranty.
I think what’s really needed is a very clear indication, at the point of purchase, of whether a game requires ongoing support from the publisher to be playable, along with a legally binding statement of how long they’ll provide support. And there should be a default warranty if none is clearly specified, like say 10 years from the point of purchase.
So I’m re-doing some of my Do Not Press The Button (Or You’ll Delete The Multiverse) character models and I have this duck that is kind of inspired by the Companion Cube in Portal. I want to make it as appealing as possible so the players will attach to it and carry it around with them. Which looks better! I’m more partial...
Bowties have been out of fashion for so long they just look silly most of the time. That seems like exactly what you’d want for a character who’s supposed to be whimsical.
Also a necktie doesn’t go with a tophat. For reasons I can’t explain, that kind of incongruity looks more accidental than it does whimsical.
This game always fascinated me as a companion piece to Half-Life. It cemented some things in the HL lore that have just become accepted, while at the same time existing in Schrodinger’s canon....
As reported by VGC, Microsoft updated its support website to reveal it has placed a temporary block on Windows 11 for users with those games installed....
Today’s game is Alan Wake II. I got the FSR 3 mod running, bringing my frames up to a far more stable 30 fps outside. There’s some noticeable ghosting rarely but besides that it works great....
What matters is the total mass of the black hole, not its density. If you replaced Earth’s core with a black hole of the same mass, the gravity you’d feel at the surface (or beneath the surface) would be the same. You’d only notice a difference if you were in the hollow region formed by removing the core.
The way I see it, the real problem with a planet like Earth is that because the inside is so hot, the inner parts are too soft to support their own weight, and the crust is probably too fragile to support its own weight. That’s not a problem, though, in an asteroid or a planet that’s solid all the way through.
Then you have to make sure it’s reasonably straightforward to figure everything out without the tutorial, so then why bother with the tutorial at all? As a player I’d hate to get stuck because I missed something that’s clearly spelled out in a tutorial I skipped.
As someone who grew up playing games like World of Warcraft and other AAA titles, I’ve seen how the gaming industry has evolved over the years—and not always for the better. One of the most disturbing trends is the rise of gacha games, which are, at their core, thinly veiled gambling systems targeting younger players. And I...
[alt text: a semi-surreal meme image on a plain white background. Two characters from Dark Souls are saying, “My lord, we have absolutely ESSENTIAL lore information for the player. Should we make a cutscrene for it?”. They are looking at Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has the From Software logo emblazoned over him, and he is...
“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.
Nah, objectification of people is fucking gross. That doesn’t change if you say “it’s just a joke, bro.” And it does matter when enough individually powerless people take up an idea. That’s literally how movements start. Like the MRA movement, for example, and now we have Andrew fucking Tate.
Man, if I had any illusions about Lemmy being filled with literal children, this thread would clear them right up. Sexual objectification is gross and it does have consequences, y’all.
This is one of those genuinely funny bugs, tbh. I remember Singles 2, the slightly more naughty competitor from years ago, had a ton of these weird quirky interactions, like masturbating with guests around and stuff.
I was about 30 years old when I talked to my mother about some program on TV about astronomy when she mentioned that our sun is a star. It's like all the other stars we see during the night, it's just closer to us so it appears bigger. My mind was blown. I didn't understand how I could have lived for 30 years and never thought...
She came really close to another mind-blowing fact: if you’re talking about linear motion, there’s no difference at all between “they’re moving” and “we’re moving”. Too bad the apparent motion of the stars is caused by rotation, otherwise it would have been a great lesson to introduce basic relativity concepts.
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
Who are “these companies”? Game publishers and developers certainly aren’t a monolith. To me, this publisher’s complaint seems like an implicit critique of how big publishers have trained gamers to have expectations that are unrealistic for all but the most high-profile games.
I swore off early access after Phoenix Point. It sucks to already be bored with a game before it has the major kinks worked out.
Dead Cells is kind of a counterpoint, though. I’m not sure if I got it as “early access” per se, but since I bought it, they made some major balance changes that completely changed the meta, and those changes got me playing way more enthusiastically than I was before.
In my experience with telemetry, it’s100% about understanding how the product is performing and being used, and 0% about monitoring individual users. Telemetry data has little to no value for anyone not directly supporting the product.
Y’all, the article is obviously written for people in the path of totality. You’re not being clever complaining about the cost and hassle of traveling.
Man, lots of people in this thread seem happy to accept any wild, physics-breaking idea rather than accept that there’s just a bunch of matter we can’t see.
Do you find open source games interesting/good thing as a gamer?
@games I am a game developer working on game called Mushy Score. I decided that my niche would be to create open source games. I think these could be helpful for developers or teachers to teach about games and how they are made. Most open source games are small game jam games, but there are few “real games” that are open source like 0 A.D. and Doom. As a non-developer do you think open source games could be good thing?
I think if I really wanted to contribute open source have code, I’d look into working on something longer Godot.
The main issue i see with open source gaming is that most games rely at least as much on things like artwork and level design as they do on coding, but the open source ethos isn’t very popular with artists and art-adjacent professionals, so fully open source games usually have to make do with very little art, or amateurish art.
If you contribute to an open source engine, you’re writing code that will go into real games without needing non-software people to work for free.
I’ve also stopped buying early access games. They may not be bad, but they’re not finished, and I don’t want to be bored with a game before I even get to see its finished form.
So basically music rights owners are too greedy and demand so much money for a reasonable license they have publishers can’t afford it? Sounds about right.
I wish rent-to-own was a more common model. Unfortunately the only examples I know of in real life involve customers paying several times the retail cost of the items they rent before they actually own them.
What I’d really like to see is a system that keeps rental and purchase prices roughly where they are, except that once you’ve paid rental fees equal to the purchase price, it counts as a purchase. That would relieve me of having to guess whether I’ll be using something enough to buy it, and I doubt it would hurt seller’s profits.
According to SAG AFTRA, the deal will “enable Replica to engage SAG-AFTRA members under a fair, ethical agreement to safely create and license a digital replica of their voice. Licensed voices can be used in video game development and other interactive media projects from pre-production to final release.”...
I think people will be bothered if the voice acting in their games sounds like it could have been done by Stephen Hawking (or with less exaggeration, like an actor doing their first reading of a script).
My experience with large projects is that the bigger they get, the more their build systems turn into large projects in their own right. Maintaining the build for something like Windows is probably many people’s full-time job, so it’s no surprise a bunch of amateurs with no docs couldn’t do it.
I wonder about that for myself, not gonna lie. But I’ve been wondering off and on for like fifteen years, so if I am an egg, I’m having very hard time cracking.
Devolver Digital Announces Shroom And Gloom, A First-Person 'Double-Deckbuilder' Roguelike With A Demo Out Now (www.gameinformer.com) angielski
Ubisoft says you "cannot complain" it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren't "deceived" by the lack of an offline version (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Full title: Ubisoft says you “cannot complain” it shut down The Crew because you never actually owned it, and you weren’t “deceived” by the lack of an offline version “to access a decade-old, discontinued video game”...
What are your favorite games for killing nazis? angielski
The only good nazi is a dead nazi. What games are the best for taking them out?...
Help me out: which looks better for the Duck - the neck tie or the bow tie? (lemmy.world) angielski
So I’m re-doing some of my Do Not Press The Button (Or You’ll Delete The Multiverse) character models and I have this duck that is kind of inspired by the Companion Cube in Portal. I want to make it as appealing as possible so the players will attach to it and carry it around with them. Which looks better! I’m more partial...
Is Half-Life Opposing Force still known to current gamers, or is this a side game that's fallen through the cracks. (lemmy.world) angielski
This game always fascinated me as a companion piece to Half-Life. It cemented some things in the HL lore that have just become accepted, while at the same time existing in Schrodinger’s canon....
Microsoft Confirms Windows 11 Update Kills Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and Other Ubisoft Games (www.ign.com) angielski
As reported by VGC, Microsoft updated its support website to reveal it has placed a temporary block on Windows 11 for users with those games installed....
Day 106 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I’ve been playing until I forget to post Screenshots (lemmy.world) angielski
Today’s game is Alan Wake II. I got the FSR 3 mod running, bringing my frames up to a far more stable 30 fps outside. There’s some noticeable ghosting rarely but besides that it works great....
Tiny Black Holes Could Lurk Inside Asteroids, Moons, or Even Planets Like Ours (www.sciencealert.com) angielski
Shadow of the Colossus - The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (www.youtube.com) angielski
Zelda-Inspired Plucky Squire Shows What Happens When A Game Doesn't Trust Its Players (kotaku.com) angielski
I personally always dislike it, too....
Gacha games are out of control. Gambling shouldn't be so widespread angielski
As someone who grew up playing games like World of Warcraft and other AAA titles, I’ve seen how the gaming industry has evolved over the years—and not always for the better. One of the most disturbing trends is the rise of gacha games, which are, at their core, thinly veiled gambling systems targeting younger players. And I...
the secret recipe (beehaw.org) angielski
[alt text: a semi-surreal meme image on a plain white background. Two characters from Dark Souls are saying, “My lord, we have absolutely ESSENTIAL lore information for the player. Should we make a cutscrene for it?”. They are looking at Hidetaka Miyazaki, who has the From Software logo emblazoned over him, and he is...
Why is the community for Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact like this? (lemmy.world) angielski
I can’t be the only one who finds this stuff Just the slightest bit revolting, right? Like … Wow. I’m at a loss for words
PoE 2, lets goo
https://discuss.tchncs.de/pictrs/image/9ef22e66-491a-40a1-bc3a-dd1d335469b2.jpeg
Size Comparison: Pluto and Australia
Source
TitanFall 2 at 3$ (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Heard great things about the game, never played it though.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The Sims 4 just got surprise incest, and it's not even the first time (www.pcgamesn.com) angielski
This is one of those genuinely funny bugs, tbh. I remember Singles 2, the slightly more naughty competitor from years ago, had a ton of these weird quirky interactions, like masturbating with guests around and stuff.
Suprising obvious fact: The Sun is a Star angielski
I was about 30 years old when I talked to my mother about some program on TV about astronomy when she mentioned that our sun is a star. It's like all the other stars we see during the night, it's just closer to us so it appears bigger. My mind was blown. I didn't understand how I could have lived for 30 years and never thought...
Devs should not be "forced to run on a treadmill until their mental or physical health breaks", says publisher of Manor Lords, citing how gamers seem to be trained to expect endless content work now (www.eurogamer.net) angielski
This really does not sound healthy. The game is released, for a certain amount of money. If people don’t like what they get for their money, they simply should not buy it....
Helldivers 2 now delisted in 177 countries (steamdb.info) angielski
Looks like Arrowhead might be moving forward with PSN despite “internal discussions”.
[Eric Berger] Seeing this eclipse is probably the highest-reward, lowest-effort thing one can do in life (arstechnica.com) angielski
The Acolyte Continues The Worst Star Wars Series Trend (www.giantfreakinrobot.com) angielski
The Acolyte had the potential to be the best Star Wars series yet, but as the preview shows, it follows one terrible series trend.
Study: Dark matter does not exist and the universe is 27 billion years old (www.earth.com) angielski
Heh
I hate the term "Boomer Shooter"
Not to say I hate the genre, I actually love me some Dusk or Turbo Overkill, but why, oh why are they called Boomer Shooters?...
Game over? Industry suffers slowdown after decades-long winning streak (www.ft.com) angielski
almost certain this is behind a paywall and usually FT is one you can’t get around, so some choice excerpts:...
Report: 95% of studios are working on or aim to release a live service game (www.gamesindustry.biz) angielski
Spec Ops: The Line permanently removed from Steam and other digital stores (www.theverge.com) angielski
Something something digital ownership
Prison Architect 2 - Official Announcement Trailer (www.youtube.com) angielski
Ubisoft Wants You To Be Comfortable Not Owning Your Games (kotaku.com)
This console generation seems skippable angielski
I’ve never skipped a console gen starting from Super NES, PS1 through 4 plus the Switch Oled 5 years after launch of the OG Switch...
Video game actors speak out after union announces AI voice deal (www.videogameschronicle.com) angielski
According to SAG AFTRA, the deal will “enable Replica to engage SAG-AFTRA members under a fair, ethical agreement to safely create and license a digital replica of their voice. Licensed voices can be used in video game development and other interactive media projects from pre-production to final release.”...
The full source code for GTA 5 has apparently been publicly leaked (archive.is) angielski
Male players: Why do you play female characters? (kbin.social) angielski
Got the idea of posting this when I watched this YouTube video that talks about reasons men love playing as girls....
Fallout 3: GOTY Edition is free to keep for the next 24 hours on the Epic Games Store (store.epicgames.com) angielski